The Portuguese playmaker has been identified by Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas as the preferred replacement for Luka Modric, who completed a transfer worth £33.2m to Real Madrid earlier this week.

Goal.com revealed on Thursday that the north London club were making a final push to sign Moutinho, and the midfielder’s arrival would pave the way for Rafael van der Vaart to complete a £10.3m [€13m] return to Hamburg.

Tottenham do not expect to encounter any problems when discussing personal terms with Moutinho, who has expressed his desire to play in the Premier League and re-unite with former Porto boss Andre Villas-Boas.

Porto had previously asked for £30m for the 25-year-old but dropped their asking price as the transfer window draws to a close, with their other star player, Hulk, now likely to stay at the Estadio do Dragao.

Villas-Boas claimed as recently as Thursday that Moutinho would be too expensive but chairman Daniel Levy has backed him with a deal that would break the club’s transfer record, currently £16.5m paid for Modric in 2008.

Spurs have chased Moutinho all summer to become the creative fulcrum of the side and, if he completes a switch, he will join new signing Mousa Dembele in the Spurs midfield as Villas-Boas makes his mark on the squad.

Moutinho’s arrival became increasingly likely once Spurs allowed Van der Vaart to travel to Hamburg for a medical, with the clubs close to reaching an agreement, thought to be in the region of £10m, for his departure from White Hart Lane.